Tv Audience Watched Riot

May 30, 1985|The New York Times

PARIS — Millions of television viewers across Western Europe were able to follow horrifying footage Wednesday night of Liverpool soccer fans assaulting their Italian counterparts at a stadium in Brussels, and then live coverage of the match.

Cameramen and commentators accustomed to the set-piece action of a soccer match were suddenly converted into reporters on fast-moving action.

A French anchorman, Alain Denvers, reported the besieged Italians crying out ``Morte! Morte!`` and said that Jacques Delors, president of the European Commission in Brussels, had been jostled by the crowd and had to be escorted out of the stadium.

Footage carried without commentary showed scores of Italian fans crushed under a falling barrier. Other shots showed them lying in listless bloody heaps in the stands.

After the European soccer federation made the decision to play the match, West Germany`s second channel, ZDF, decided not to show it. Before making the decision, it had shown an hour and a half of the melee.

In a trembling voice, Reinhard Appel, chief news editor of ZDF, said: ``We find this violence unbelievable. What kind of people are these?``

Ruprecht Eser, the anchorman of ZDF`s evening newscast, said the extraordinary decision not to show the match had been made because the game was being played merely to prevent further violence and not as a true sports spectacle.

``Such horror at a soccer match has never been seen in Europe in history,`` Eser said.

After the 1-0 victory of the Italiam team, Juvuntus, French television showed disappointed Liverpool fans burning their banners in the stands while the more numerous Italian fans erupted in joy. With their fists held high in triumph, the Italian team trotted around the cinder track circling the field accepting the fans` cheers.

A French sports commentator observed: ``These scenes of joy should not mask what has happened before. But let us say that the pill is a little less bitter.``